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Possessive singular in Hungarian

So how do you say that you possess something? How would you say that have got a dog or a cat or a house?

The verb “van” is used to express the existence.

Use “Van egy” in these sentences with the appropriate possessive ending on the object:

“Van egy kutyám.” means “I have a dog”.

“Van egy kutyád.” means “you have a dog”.

etc.

What if you want to say you do not have something? Use the negation of “van”. There is no such an expression in Hungarian like “nem van”, instead of this we use another word: “Nincs”. This word (which means “there is not” and is used to deny the existence of something) you will use without the article “egy” in the following sentences.

You can emphasize the owner/possessor by adding the following declined pronouns:

nekem – for me

neked – for you

neki – for him/her

nekünk – for us

nektek – for you pl.

nekik – for them

Remember, it is not neccessary to use these declined pronouns, but you can. Sometimes you need to emphasize as in the following example where two children are having an argument over a ball.

Van egy labdám. – I have got a ball.

Nem! Nekem van egy labdám! – No, it is me, who has got a ball. (No, I have a ball!)

Or you can emphasize that you don’t have something.

Tudom, hogy van egy labdád. – I know, that you have got a ball.

Nekem nincs labdám! – I do not have a ball!!

Next time we will learn the possessive of nouns that end in consonants!!!

Exercise:

How would you translate?

1. I have a cat.

2. Do you have an apple? (remember, yes or no questions have the same word order as declarative sentences!)